Brown: For Louisville basketball and others transfer portal has forever changed recruiting

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — The COVID-year waiver enters its final season, and the average age on NCAA basketball rosters will take a precipitous dip upon its departure.

The premium on recruiting freshmen, however, won’t return in its absence. Maybe it will for John Calipari, but now that he’s at Arkansas, that’s no longer Kentucky’s problem.

The days of depending on a group of freshmen to power a program to the top are as quaint as when maintaining amateurism was sacred and a scholarship was considered payment enough for players.

The waiver allowed everyone who played the fragmented 2020-21 season — defined by COVID testing, quarantines, canceled games and opponents scheduled through social media — to act like the year never existed.

The NCAA didn’t count that season toward eligibility, allowing players the option of staying in school for an unprecedented fifth full season.

It’s how someone such as Louisville forward Terrence Edwards Jr., who transferred after playing four seasons at James Madison, can still be allowed to suit up for the Cardinals this coming season.

The pandemic and the waiver that came with it changed how coaches dealt with roster management.

The transfer portal reconstructed how they viewed the need for a strong freshman class.

Basketball won’t quite harken the days of freshman ineligibility, because the elite tier in any class will still have its share of difference-makers who have an immediate impact. That includes Kentucky target A.J. Dybantsa, who is the No. 1 player in the Class of 2025 according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

But there will be more rosters constructed like Louisville, especially at the major conference level, that lean heavy on transfers.

Khani Rooths is the lone freshman on the Cards roster despite 10 players with only this season of eligibility remaining. (Both Kobe Rodgers and Aly Khalifa only have one year of eligibility left, but they are intending to redshirt to rehab from injuries.)

With the way U of L coach Pat…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/brown-louisville-basketball-others-transfer-091543780.html

Author : The Courier Journal

Publish date : 2024-07-19 09:15:43

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